AAS to hold Frank Fenner tribute public symposium

A tribute symposium to Frank Fenner’s life and science will feature three eminent speakers who will provide insights into the health and environmental research that defined Fenner’s career.

The tribute symposium will be held on 1 February at the Shine Dome in Canberra at 5.45 pm.

Nobel Laureate, Professor Peter Doherty will focus on Fenner’s early career as immunologist, while Emeritus Professor Henry Nix, will examine his contributions to environmental science and Professor Adrian Gibbs will provide a closer examination of his legacy as a virologist and scientist.

The tribute symposium will kick-off the Australian Academy of Science’s 2011 public lecture series on Fenner’s Science Today and Tomorrow. The series will serve as a tribute to his work and an opportunity to hear about the latest scientific advances in the research areas that he pioneered and are still actively researched today.

Frank Fenner’s long and diverse career spanned many areas of science, beginning with malaria and tuberculosis research in the 1940s.

He pioneered the development of a biological method to control rabbit populations, and played a pivotal role in the elimination of smallpox.

His interest in epidemiology, population dynamics and passion for the environment, led him to founding and becoming Director of the Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies at the Australian National University, now expanded into the Fenner School of Environment and Society.

The symposium is open to the public and has free entry, although RSVPs are required.